Uganda to discharge last Ebola patient

• Uganda will discharge its last Ebola patient on July 16, starting a 42-day countdown to be declared free of the virus if no new cases emerge.
• The Ebola outbreak caused 2,011 confirmed cases and 754 deaths in the DRC, involving the rare Bundibugyo strain.
• Ugandan health officials report 17 recoveries, five local and 15 imported cases, with the WHO calling this the third-worst outbreak on record.

KAMPALA – Uganda is due to discharge its last Ebola patient on July 16, triggering a 42-day countdown that could see the country declared free of the virus, a spokesperson for the government said.

The wider outbreak, which the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a public health emergency in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in May, has caused 2,011 confirmed cases of infection and 754 confirmed deaths in the DRC as at July 15, according to data from the government.

An online Ugandan health ministry portal on July 16 showed the number of recoveries stood at 17, with one current admission in an isolation unit and two deaths. It said five cases were locally acquired and 15 were imported.

All cases are linked to the rare Bundibugyo strain and the WHO has said it is the third-worst outbreak on record.

Alan Kasujja, a Ugandan government spokesperson, said in a post on X late on July 15 that a patient would be released from an isolation unit at the Mulago National Referral Hospital, located in the country’s capital, on the morning of July 16.

Kasujja said the patient’s discharge would start the clock on the World Health Organization’s required waiting period before an outbreak can be declared as finished.

“When that happens, Uganda starts counting down,” Kasujja said. “If 42 days pass without a single new case, WHO guidelines stipulate that we will be declared Ebola-free.” REUTERS